Jennifer Warnes; not just a backing singer! (Jennifer Warnes in general)

Member Name: Glasgow Girl

Product:	Jennifer Warnes in general
Date:	25/07/00 (246 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderful voice, wonderful song-writer

Disadvantages: she is always asociated with other people's songs

Jennifer Warnes holds a place in my heart which cannot be filled by any other artiste.

Her voice is one of the all time
sweetest and best
with only the likes of Beth Neilsen Chapman coming anywhere close to Jennifer’s gorgeous tones.

Surprisingly few people even know who Jennifer Warnes is, but I was to mention “Up Where We Belong”,
or
"I Had the Time of My Life”,
most folks will know immediately
who I’m talking about.

How strange, it seems to me, that her only real hits have been as part of a duo,
when she has one of the finest voices around.

No newcomer, she has been on the music scene, in one genre or another, for four decades. Once you’ve heard her voice, you’ll know why.

Born in Seattle, on the third of March 1947, Jennifer has known success in more than one area of popular music.
She has been a singer of contemporary pop, she has had success as a country singer, as I just said, movie themes are another genre in which she had excelled - and as an interpreter of the work of Leonard Cohen, she is second to none.

Her first taste of the public spotlight came when she became a regular on the “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, on American TV in the 1960’s, when she was known as Jennifer Warren or just Jennifer.
She was one of the original cast of the musical ‘Hair’ in Los Angeles in 1968, and as a result of her appearance in that show, she signed to a subsidiary of London Records.

Her debut album, “I Can Remember Everything” was only a minor American success, as was her second, “See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me!” in 1969.

She then moved to Reprise, which released “Jennifer” , produced by John Cale, in 1972. When that album also flopped, Warnes signed on as a backup singer with Leonard Cohen, starting what was to become a life-lo
ng friendship with the famous singer songwriter.

In 1976, Jennifer joined Arista Records and finally registered in the American charts in 1977 with "Right Time of the Night," This single went Top Ten and reached number one in the Easy Listening charts and the Top 40 in the American Country charts. Taken from her Arista debut album, “Jennifer Warnes”, this song is remains one of her all-time best.
The follow-up album, “Shot Through the Heart” in 1979, featured "I Know a Heartache When I See One," which again made the charts in the USA.

Jennifer’s next album was her hits compilation, “Best of Jennifer Warnes” and in July of the same year (1982) her new label, Island Records,
released a duet
between Warnes and Joe Cocker,
"Up Where We Belong,"
the love theme from the movie
“An Officer and a Gentleman”.

Almost everyone reading this will have heard that lovely song
and it should feature in the top ten lists elsewhere in dooyoo.
(if it doesn’t, it should)

"Up Where We Belong" reached number one and went platinum.

Her success with Joe Cocker led to other
movie sountracks,
"Nights Are Forever", from
“Twilight Zone -- The Movie”
and the title theme from
“All the Right Moves”
which was another duet,
this time with the critically aclaimed Australian songsmith, Chris Thompson.

In 1986, she became the first artiste to sign with the short-lived Cypress Records label, which released “Famous Blue Raincoat”, an album of Leonard Cohen songs.

In July of 1987, RCA Records released
"(I've Had) The Time of My Life,"
the love theme from the film Dirty Dancing, yet another a duet, with Jennifer
this time supported by Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers.

(This has to b
e another one from the ‘top ten’ dooyoo page.)

As we all now know, “Time of My Life” topped the charts and went gold.
Jennifer then spent five years putting together a follow-up to Famous Blue Raincoat , releasing “The Hunter” in 1992.

It failed to gain any real recognition and an added to the problems associated with this wonderful singer’s work.

For anyone wanting to start a Jennifer Warnes collection, there is one small problem; her many label affiliations preclude any compilation from adequately covering her career so, amazing as it might seem, neither of her biggest hits is available on a Jennifer Warnes album.

However, I wouldn’t allow that one small thing to deter anyone because, when you get a listen to Jennifer’s wonderfull voice,
the rest as they say is academic.
GG

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